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High School Journalism

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Four stations will pull analog plug Tuesday

The FCC has allowed four stations here shut off their analog transmitters on Tuesday, but the major network stations all plan to continue transmitting in both analog and digital until June. Bay Area stations switching are:

KCNS 38 SF — to Channel 39

KFTY 50 Santa Rosa — to Channel 32

KICU 36 San Jose (transmitter at Sutro) — staying at 36 (it had used 52 as its digital channel in the past month)

KOFY 20 SF — to Channel 19

The decision by President Obama and Congress to extend analog broadcasting has hit the bottom line of local stations. Continuing to operate an analog transmitter can cost $10,000 to $15,000 a month in power bills. That's an extra $60,000 that stations hadn't put in their 09 budgets — about the amount a reporter would cost over maybe, what, 6 months? Nine months? A year?

• More than 500 stations are switching on Tuesday, according to the AP. • Not every station was allowed to shut down its analog transmitter, Information Week reports.• Here's a list of station that will end analog on Tuesday.